Today's recipe comes courtesy of the April, 1966 issue of Family Circle magazine. It's a clip-out recipe card so rather than write out the recipe here, I took a picture of it instead!
As you can see, the recipe isn't terribly involved and has a minimal amount of ingredients. I already had an opened jar of sauerkraut in the fridge that needed to get used up, so this was the perfect recipe for it. And sadly, it's been so cloudy and cool here that the thought of an oven-baked casserole doesn't seem inappropriate, even though we're in post-July 4th Seattle, and it's supposed to be hot and sunny now.
This recipe was super easy, and can be made ahead of time. I actually made it in the morning and left it in the fridge to bake for lunch. It doesn't say exactly what kind of pan to use, but I used an 8"x8" pan and it fit just perfectly.
Here's the obligatory ingredient line-up shot. As you can see, there's not a lot involved! To make 2 cups of diced ham, you'll need 1.5 (8oz) ham steaks, so make plans to use the other half in something else, or buy the already diced kind from the store. I don't like that kind as much though, cuz the texture always seems off.
Here is the drained sauerkraut. I tried pressing it with a fork in a colander but it doesn't do much. You will need to actually squeeze it with your hands to drain it. You'll be surprised at how much you get to drain out. Fluff it with a fork afterwards and it'll make it easier to stir everything else into it.
Here's the ham, first apple, and half the brown sugar all mixed together.
And here it is in the greased pan.
Core and slice the second apple and mix in the last 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar and cinnamon.
Arrange them on the top in a slightly overlapping pattern. It calls for you to cover it before placing it in the oven, so at this point you can refrigerate it for as long as you want before baking it. This would be something you could make the ing morning or night before you bake it.
Here it is, out of the oven, ready for lunch! I cooked basic egg noodles to serve with it, but you could use spaetzle, boiled potatoes, roasted potatoes, or whatever you feel like as a side.
Here's the finished product on the plate. I mixed the noodles in with it and ate it altogether. The sour, salty, and sweet all blended well together but I found it ultimately too sweet. I would probably cut the brown sugar in half next time. I used "Envy" apples with are red, have a great texture, but are really sweet. I would say Granny Smiths would be a good option, but it won't have that lovely touch of red from the peel. Look for a red apple that isn't too sweet. Not sure what kind that might be, but based on this being a recipe from 1966, "red apple" probably meant Red Delicious, as gross as those can be. Maybe it would work? I also wanted to add some caraway seeds to this, which isn't called for in the recipe, but I think it would be a great flavor in this mix.
This was a really simple recipe that sauerkraut lovers will enjoy a lot. Alter the sugar content and type of apples if you want it less sweet. This dish reminded me of Easter dinner in our family and my sister commented that it smelled like Easter. It would be a good alternate dish if we ever wanted to try something different but similar at the same time. Maybe I'll make this for next year's Easter so my grandmother can try one of her own recipes she saved over the years!
Happy Cooking!
-Foodie
